Helmet
by Moofy-Fan
Summary: "Helmet?" The Duke asked the seasick earthbender, offering his prized hat. She quickly took it, and he put his hand on her back in an attempt to comfort her, trying not to blush the entire time. Not that he had any reason to blush. Onesided The Duke/Toph


Why hello there. Didn't see this coming from me, did ya? First Avatar story, so I hope it's not too bad. Why is it that I always fall in love with some of the least appreciated characters/pairing/everything? Well, I guess that just means I have to take it upon myself to help these underappreciated things grow until the whole world can fully understand their greatness.

-The Helmet-

The Duke sat on the floor of the underwater ship, his back leaning agents the wall. A bunch of the adults were standing near the front, talking. Apparently Sokka had invented it or something, he wasn't paying much attention.

"Urgg," that's what he had been paying attention to. The blind earth bender girl. She hadn't been doing too well since they had gone underwater. Not that The Duke had been watching her or anything. At least, no more so then usual. Just enough to know the basics about her, like, her name was Toph, and she was the most amazing earth bender he had ever seen.

"You've really outdone yourself this time, Sokka,"

"Yeah, congratulations Sokka," Toph began "you've managed to invent a worse way of travel then flying," She didn't sound good in the least. Taking off his prized hat quickly, he offered it to the seasick girl next to him.

"Helmet?" The Duke asked, and the earth bender quickly grabbed it out of his hands. Placing a hand on her back, he was glad he had offered the hat. She had definitely needed it. Rubbing her back, he tried not to blush. She was just a sick girl he was helping, there was no reason to. "Don't worry, they said we'll go up for air soon," He hoped it was soothing. He never really had any experience with that kind of thing, growing up as a freedom fighter and everything.

"Thanks kid," Toph said before slamming the helmet back into his hands. The Duke frowned at that for two reasons. One, ouch. She was strong! Almost reminded him of Smellerbee in a way, only she was definitely a girl. No offence to Smellerbee, but he didn't know she was one for the better part of three months. Two, he wasn't that much younger then her. From what he's seen though, she talked down to almost everyone, so he shouldn't mind that much.

Once they emerged from the water, The Duke quickly went above deck to clean out his helmet. While dunking it in the water, he was actually kind of glad she had gotten sick. That was the first time he'd been able to get up the courage to actually talk to her. Not that he was scared or shy or anything. He just hadn't gotten any chances to.

His hat was soon as clean as it was going to get, although he hesitated a little bit before putting it back on. Now, he had never been one to worry about cleanliness, the opposite really, but puke in his helmet was a little bit different.

Suddenly he heard everyone being called back below deck and he began heading towards the stairs, helmet still in hand.

"Hey, Duke right?" The Duke turned quickly towards the voice. Toph was standing next to him, a slight frown in her face. Normally he would of corrected her, his name was _The_ Duke, not Duke. He decided she really hadn't know him that long, it wasn't her fault for not knowing.

"Y-yeah?" He asked. He wondered slightly if she was going to ask for his helmet again. He would of given it to her, of course, although she didn't really look sick, at least not yet, anyway.

"Sorry about ruining your hat," she said, almost shyly. It wasn't really shyly though, because as far as The Duke had seen, Toph didn't get shy. It was probably just hard to not be at least a little awkward around a nearly complete stranger who's hat you had just up chucked into. Smiling, he tried to laugh it off.

"It's fine, you needed it more then me," He said, before placing his helmet back on without hesitation. Smirking, she headed down the stairs. The Duke followed quickly, after all, everyone had to be down there before they could start moving again. The solar eclipse wouldn't wait for their chitchat.

Touching his helmet now securely on his head, The Duke smiled. Sure, it was a little bit disgusting, but he didn't mind. Growing up as a freedom fighter did that to you. Besides, it had broken the ice for him.

Not that he needed any ice to be broken. He wasn't scared, or interested, or anything in her. He just wanted to talk, and now they had, and if he wanted to talk again, he would. There wasn't any ice this time. His helmet and a bout of seasickness had broken it, and even if it hadn't, the ice would of melted anyway. They were in the fire nation, after all.

Line-Line-Line-Line-Line

Tada. Cute little one shot for ya. I just find The Duke/Toph to be the cutest thing in the world, and if you think so too, then spread the love. And review, reviewing would be nice too.


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